The 2008-09 NBA thread

[Vassillios]

congrats lakers fans.

[Spacey]

Phil Jackson the greatest basketball coach?

[SkyePrizm]

Congrats, Lakers fans.  You deserve to gloat.   Orlando forgot to show up for 95% of this series.   You won, fair and square.    

........But lets see if you can do it again next year.   Celtics will be back..........

[leith]

Best franchise in the league by far.

i\'ll give you best franchise, but the celts aren\'t that far behind. i mean they do have fewer championships than the celts. plus the celtics have been MUCH better in head to head meetings in the championships.

but the lakers deserved it this year. would have been nice to see a healthy celtics team, from an entertainment standpoint. also would have been nice to see the magic not shit the bed completely. enjoy the offseason

they losing anybody during the summer?

The Lakers have been in 50% of the NBA\'s Finals. Name another team that can claim that in any sport.
You can\'t.

The Lakers are not losing anyone important to the team. Dr. Buss has handed the team to his son and he hates the celtics more than his pop.

They\'ll spend what they need to.

Great thing about The Lakers that people forget.
It\'s a FAMILY organization.

[Drew_Kingsley]

Phil Jackson the greatest basketball coach?

John Wooden is the greatest basketball coach of all-time.

Phil may be the best NBA coach of all-time, but it\'s so tough to say. The most talented team wins it all most of the time in the NBA, especially in the era of seven-game series\' throughout the playoffs. Phil is definitely like Joe Torre in his ability to manage a locker room full of egos, but I don\'t know that he is a hands-down better coach than Red Auerbach, Lenny Wilkins, Pat Riley, Chuck Daly or Larry Brown.

[leith]

Lakers over Orlando in 5

(channeling my inner Wolfman)

Are you ser? What a fantastic prediction. For those scoring at home, that was made on 5/30. That\'s before the Eastern Conference Finals were even more. That\'s back when David Carradine was still alive. That\'s back before Phenway. I\'m going to chalk that prediction right up there with Joe Namath and Super Bowl III. I am legend.

EPIC POST!!!

[Spacey]

Phil Jackson the greatest basketball coach?

John Wooden is the greatest basketball coach of all-time.

Phil may be the best NBA coach of all-time, but it\'s so tough to say. The most talented team wins it all most of the time in the NBA, especially in the era of seven-game series\' throughout the playoffs. Phil is definitely like Joe Torre in his ability to manage a locker room full of egos, but I don\'t know that he is a hands-down better coach than Red Auerbach, Lenny Wilkins, Pat Riley, Chuck Daly or Larry Brown.

I agree that Wooden is the Greatest Basketball Coach of All-Time.

I also believe the Jackson is the best NBA coach, IMO. The victory Yesterday seals his fate as such. Until then he was tied with Auerbach with 9 titles. There is more too it then just titles but they speak for themselves.

Different times, places and players make this an arguable point but to give all the credit to the players is wrong when Jackson is as much of an asset as anyone else. He has turned teams around in the past and brought them to the playoffs many with the same players that the previous coach could not.

[leith]

Phil got Kobe Bryant to pass the ball.
Greatest NBA coach EVER!!!

[SkyePrizm]

Phil Jackson the greatest basketball coach?

John Wooden is the greatest basketball coach of all-time.

Phil may be the best NBA coach of all-time, but it\'s so tough to say. The most talented team wins it all most of the time in the NBA, especially in the era of seven-game series\' throughout the playoffs. Phil is definitely like Joe Torre in his ability to manage a locker room full of egos, but I don\'t know that he is a hands-down better coach than Red Auerbach, Lenny Wilkins, Pat Riley, Chuck Daly or Larry Brown.

Yeah, I definitely don\'t think Phil is greater than Red or Riley.  But i think he\'s up there on the same level.

[leith]

Phil Jackson the greatest basketball coach?

John Wooden is the greatest basketball coach of all-time.

Phil may be the best NBA coach of all-time, but it\'s so tough to say. The most talented team wins it all most of the time in the NBA, especially in the era of seven-game series\' throughout the playoffs. Phil is definitely like Joe Torre in his ability to manage a locker room full of egos, but I don\'t know that he is a hands-down better coach than Red Auerbach, Lenny Wilkins, Pat Riley, Chuck Daly or Larry Brown.

Yeah, I definitely don\'t think Phil is greater than Red or Riley.  But i think he\'s up there on the same level.

You\'re wrong. He is.

[SkyePrizm]

Phil Jackson the greatest basketball coach?

John Wooden is the greatest basketball coach of all-time.

Phil may be the best NBA coach of all-time, but it\'s so tough to say. The most talented team wins it all most of the time in the NBA, especially in the era of seven-game series\' throughout the playoffs. Phil is definitely like Joe Torre in his ability to manage a locker room full of egos, but I don\'t know that he is a hands-down better coach than Red Auerbach, Lenny Wilkins, Pat Riley, Chuck Daly or Larry Brown.

Yeah, I definitely don\'t think Phil is greater than Red or Riley.  But i think he\'s up there on the same level.

You\'re wrong. He is.

Nah, he isn\'t.     He\'s just had the opportunity to coach people like Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant.  Without Jordan on the bulls, Kobe on the Lakers......he\'d have LESS rings.

[FrankZappa]

The Lakers have been in 50% of the NBA\'s Finals. Name another team that can claim that in any sport.
You can\'t.

does anyone have the stats on the womens ncaa championships? it\'s only been done a couple dozen years if that long and tennessee and uconn are in there all the time. one of them might be there.

[Spacey]

Phil Jackson the greatest basketball coach?

John Wooden is the greatest basketball coach of all-time.

Phil may be the best NBA coach of all-time, but it\'s so tough to say. The most talented team wins it all most of the time in the NBA, especially in the era of seven-game series\' throughout the playoffs. Phil is definitely like Joe Torre in his ability to manage a locker room full of egos, but I don\'t know that he is a hands-down better coach than Red Auerbach, Lenny Wilkins, Pat Riley, Chuck Daly or Larry Brown.

Yeah, I definitely don\'t think Phil is greater than Red or Riley.  But i think he\'s up there on the same level.

You\'re wrong. He is.

Nah, he isn\'t.     He\'s just had the opportunity to coach people like Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant.  Without Jordan on the bulls, Kobe on the Lakers......he\'d have LESS rings.

You have no idea who Phil Jackson is then.

Where were the Bulls or Lakers before Phil Jackson?

[leith]

Phil Jackson the greatest basketball coach?

John Wooden is the greatest basketball coach of all-time.

Phil may be the best NBA coach of all-time, but it\'s so tough to say. The most talented team wins it all most of the time in the NBA, especially in the era of seven-game series\' throughout the playoffs. Phil is definitely like Joe Torre in his ability to manage a locker room full of egos, but I don\'t know that he is a hands-down better coach than Red Auerbach, Lenny Wilkins, Pat Riley, Chuck Daly or Larry Brown.

Yeah, I definitely don\'t think Phil is greater than Red or Riley.  But i think he\'s up there on the same level.

You\'re wrong. He is.

Nah, he isn\'t.     He\'s just had the opportunity to coach people like Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant.  Without Jordan on the bulls, Kobe on the Lakers......he\'d have LESS rings.

Before you come out with such bullshit .
Know your history.
Red had Bill Russell for most of his Championships.

W/O Russell RED HAS AT LEAST 8 LESS RINGS AND THE LAKERS WOULD HAVE MORE CHAMPIONSHIPS THEN THEM.

[Yoda]

Best franchise in the league by far.
15th championship out of 31 chances.
celts have 17 but only been to the finals 20 times.

I think that it\'s a tough debate on this one... I can\'t stand pro ball, so I\'m coming at this from a purely statistical POV...

Championships - Celtics 17 / Lakers 15 (edge - Celtics)
Conference Titles - Celtics 20 / Lakers 30 (edge - Lakers)
Division Titles - Celtics 27 / Lakers 31 (edge - Lakers

But if you look at the winning percentage in the finals, the Celtics have an 88% winning percentage while the Lakers have won 50% of their opportunities.  I think that you also have to take into consideration the stretch of 13 seasons from 56/57-68/69 where the Cetlics were in all but 1 final and won 11 championships.  

I\'m not saying that the Lakers aren\'t the best team in the league, but to say that they are the best team by far is sort of a homer comment.